National Park After Dark - A Haunted Castle and Afternoon Tea: Exmoor National Park

Episode Date: October 10, 2022

Today we explore the moorelands of Exmoor National Park. From rolling hills, wild ponies, and beautiful cliff side towns, this is a place to add to your bucket list. While it is beautiful, it is also the home of one of the spookiest castles in England. We're taking a deep dive into all the ghostly happenings and terrifying history before we head out to the hill side for a good ole' British Afternoon Tea. For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials:Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdarkSupport the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page!Thank you to this week’s partners!Prose: Use our link for a free in-depth hair consultation and 15% off your first order.Beam: Use our link and code NPAD to get up to 40% off .For a full list of our sources, visit http://npadpodcast.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Monday AI agents took over my work. And I absolutely love it. Chasing deadlines, writing status reports, updating stakeholders. Agents handle the daily grind now. They live inside Monday.com. So they see the full picture, my work, my team, the whole company. And I don't have to worry about the data. It's safe, which means I'm free to focus on the big stuff,

knowing everything runs smoothly in the background. It's completely shifted the way we work. Create your own AI agent in minutes on Monday.com. Girl, winter is so last season. And now Springs got you looking at pictures of tank tops with hungry eyes. Your algorithm is feeding you cutoffs. You're thirsty for the sun on your shoulders. That perfect hang on the patio sundress.

Those sandals you can wear all day and all night. And you've had enough of shopping from your couch. Done hoping it looks anything like the picture when you tear up on that envelope. It's time for a little in-person spring treat. It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic. England is home to so much history, from Shakespeare to Charles Dickens to royal kings and queens and buildings that have stood for centuries. Walking down their streets and driving through the

rolling hills of their beautiful landscape quickly reminds you that many have been here before you. These lands have seen battles and bloodshed and they're home to structures who stood in the medieval era. It's not uncommon to pass by an old fortress or castle. With thousands of years of history, these castles hold a lot of secrets and a lot of stories. But one castle, an Exmoor National Park, holds the spirits of those who never left. Welcome to National Park After Dark. Did you go to this park when you were in England? Yeah. Yeah, I just got back. Okay, I was like, I mean, I guess it's spent two weeks now. This sounds very familiar.

Like, I told you all about it already, but now I'm telling you about it after I've done research. Okay, cool. So we have a little more context. Well, welcome back, everyone, to the second episode of Spooky Season. Cassie is staying on brand and doing, I'm guessing, a haunting. Yes, we are going to a haunted castle in England in Exmoor National Park. And I just thought, well, one, I was just recently here, so I was very inspired while I was there to learn more about the park. but also what country is spookier than England?

Right. Well, that's valid. So it just seemed like the perfect time to add in spooky season. But also when I was there, I was venturing through Exmoor National Park and it's incredibly beautiful. I mean, it was amazing. It was more beautiful than I thought it was going to be, even though I saw the pictures than I knew it was going to be great.

But I found myself while I was adventuring through thinking, what happened here? This is so old. What is the history? here and I didn't know. So now I'm hoping that with this episode, if any of you are planning to head to Exmoor National Park, or if any of you live in the area, I can give you a little bit of context around the park itself. So you go in with a little bit more history and knowledge than I did when I arrived. Amazing. Well, before we go, I have a couple things that I want to touch on really quick about last week's episode. So two things, two? Maybe three. I feel like there's a third one. Maybe it'll

come to mind. But there's things that need to be spoken. So first, we had a lot of people comment very nicely about George Washington's teeth. And that is just, I'm so glad people brought it up because, I mean, I literally, if someone was to say, I'll give you a million dollars if you tell me what George Washington's teeth were made out of, I still would have said would because that's what I learned in school. But they are not, or were not made from wood. There are many people were quick to tell us that they were actually made from enslaved people's teeth, which I did not know. It's horrifying.

And it just, I think, knowing that someone said a comment that I thought really spoke to our knowledge, I guess. And in the U.S., they said, you know, you believing that Washington's teeth were made of wood really shows what injustices that the U.S. education system does. And maybe it has changed. I mean, we haven't been in elementary school in a long time now. So maybe things have changed. But for us, we really did grow up learning those things.

And it was really brushed over and not mentioned at all, at least in my knowledge, that it was from enslaved people's teeth. And that is disgusting and horrifying. And it just is like another example of how things, I guess, have been, especially with slavery, has been kind of brushed under the rug. It's like, oh, it wasn't that bad. It wasn't that bad. And then you hear that. And it's like, that's as bad as it gets.

Yeah. Yeah. On top of all the other as bad as it gets things that were going on during that. Right. So that was the first thing. And the second thing, I think I misspoke. I honestly didn't listen back after I read this comment. But I was like, that makes sense.

So someone was kind enough to point out that during, I was talking about the Spanish Inquisition and the torture methods. And I think I said hearsay. but it's heresy. Like, that was the whole thing about the Spanish Inquisition. So, you know what I mean? So two very different things, just so we're all on the same page. And then, God, there was a third thing.

What the heck? Oh, I think I said it was the best of times. It was the worst of times. And weren't we like, that's Shakespeare? It's not. Yeah. It's absolutely not. Hamlet.

Is it Hamlet? Now I'm freaking out. Hamlet is Shakespeare. Okay, no, what is it? A tale of two cities or something? You would think I'm like correcting myself and I would like to in the future. Charles Dickens. God, I was going to say maybe I just mentioned him in my intro. Look at that. It all came full circle. Okay, good. I was going to say maybe in the future when I want to correct myself, I should write down the correct things that and not just like dig myself in a deeper hole. But okay. I'm here to correct myself, but I haven't actually looked. I did. Okay, I did. It's early in the morning. I forgot. Yeah, we don't usually record in the morning, so this is like a whole where our schedules are thrown. Yes, absolutely. So, okay, those were my three things for corrections of last episode. And I have one other thing I want to talk about, but it's like totally unrelated. So I'll save it till the end. Okay. Well, I can't wait to hear it. Great. Also,

just as a heads up, everyone, I'm still sick, of course. So my voice is still a little. strange, but I'm trying and my voice will be a little more deep set for spooky season, it seems like. But we are, for this episode, we are going to be going to Exmoor National Park, which is in southwest England inside of Somerset and Devon. And it is amazing. I just went there two weeks ago, I think it was. I went to visit some family and friends that live in that area. And when I tell you this area is what you picture England as. It's what you picture England as. It's just old. It has castles. It has rolling hills. It has the cobblestone roads. It's just like, if you're going to England, that's what you imagine outside of London. Okay. And it's on the coast. But long before it was

established as a national park, which it was established in 1954, the area was previously named Exmoor Royal Forest, because during medieval times, this forest was done. designated hunting grounds for the king, and it was originally established by King Henry II. This whole episode's going to be really interesting because we're in England, all of the dates are going to be going back significantly farther than I think we usually discuss. When I was writing down some of these dates, I'm like, 1,66. Like, what? So we're really taking a dive back into history for this one.

But before we go into all of that, X more national, park. I want to introduce it a little bit more. It does cover an area of 692.8 square kilometers or 267.5 square miles. The park is characterized by quaint small villages with local shops and restaurants and its extensive open moorlands. So more lands are a type of habitat that are found in high hill areas that are filled with grasslands. Morlands have a lot of low growing vegetation on acidic soils, and Exmoor National Park is almost exclusively formed from sedimentary rocks that date back millions of years. So when I say it has the rolling hills that you think of, they're lush green, there's flowers in certain times of the year, it's just, it's very pretty.

It does have its highest point in the park, which is also a place that I visit while I was there. It is called Dunkery Hill, and it is 519 meters or 1,700. and three feet in elevation on the top of Dunkery Hill. So we did go on a hike into this area and we walked to the summit and there's this big Karen that sits at the top. And this actually dates back to the Bronze Age, which is 3,300 BC around that area. And it's actually a burial mound. Oh.

And on top of Dunkery Hill is actually several different burial mounds that are up there. And I had no idea while I was up there. there either. So when you say burial mound, is it individual graves or is it mounds with multiple people buried and interred within the mound? From the research that I did, it sounds like it's multiple people. It seems there are a couple specific ones that have the people's names and who they were, but because it's dating back to the BC era, there isn't specific like names to all of them, but they have different carins that are up there and they have different mounds that you can see when you're up there that are actually very ancient burial grounds, which I thought was super interesting because I had no idea while I was up there. So now if anyone hikes up there, it's very pretty. You have a view of the coast. You have a view of like miles of rolling hills inside of Exmoor National Park and definitely suggest doing it. There's a lot of different options where you can make the hike either longer or you could do it a really short one. I think the one I did round trip. was like just over a mile. It was very short. Okay. X-More also consists of 55 kilometers or 34 miles of

coastline. The coastline has some of the highest cliffs in all of mainland Britain that stand over 143 feet high or 318 meters. An area within the park between Porlock and Forland Point has the single longest stretch of coastland woodlands in all of England and Wales. And one thing that's cool about Exmoor National Park, as you can see in certain areas, you can see across the water. You can see whales on the other side. So that was really cool. These areas of Axmore National Park have been recognized as sites of special scientific interest due to the diversity of plant species that exist here. Also, a coastal area within the park that I visit is known as Valley of Rocks, which is a valley of rocky high cliffs that sit along the coastline for one kilometer or 0.6 miles. It was

really pretty. There are these dramatic rocks that are just along the coasts that peak pretty high. And you're driving through these rolling mountains and suddenly there's these rocky cliff sides along the coasts that you can walk up. There's trails. It's very, very pretty. It's a pretty known tourist area as well. And one thing that was interesting when I got there is the area actually has a population of feral goats that roam around. Did you post about the goats? I know. I feel like I don't know I feel like I saw you post something about goats I don't remember okay but maybe there was a whole thing of there were goats when I was in Greece too maybe that was it that was definitely yeah yeah I saw goats in Greece too but um there are feral goats that live in

the section of valley of the rocks and you can see them wandering around and there's kind of a big chunk of them that hang out down there interesting this park seems more diverse than I initially imagined. Same. There's a lot going on here and I didn't really realize, I guess that England was so diverse. And I feel dumb saying that because I'm sure people in England are like, yeah, there's so much cool stuff here. But you kind of see the same photos of England whenever you see it. And I've only visited twice. So I was really, really excited when I got here because there were so much going on and even the people that I was with was like, wow, I'm gaining a much bigger appreciation for England right now because this is amazing. This is so beautiful. And it does have some wildlife

there. The park is also known for its wild horses. And they are these semi-feral Exmoor ponies that have actually been present in the park since 700,000 BC. And it is believed that they have not changed since they first arrived to there. So they haven't adapted, they haven't changed. They're the same ponies. That's cool. Yeah. And they're really cool because they are well adapted to cold and wet weather.

And they are considered to be very hardy ponies. Because of their history in the park and because of their rare breed, they have been given a conservation status by the rare breed survival trust in the UK. So they're very protected in the park. While Exmoor National Park has beautiful landscapes, categorized by miles of rolling hills, dramatic rock formations, beautiful coastlines, and amazing flora and fauna, it is also full of ancient history with very ancient buildings. And we are going to head to one of its oldest and most haunted for today's episode, which is Dunster Castle. I have the feeling

that Castle and Haunted go hand in hand pretty much across the board. So I would be disappointed If you said, we're going to go to a castle that has some stories, but it has nothing to do with hauntings. It's just normal. It's a normal. What is a normal castle? I don't know. It's a good question. Do they exist?

I've never come across one, no. Well, this one is very interesting. It has a lot of hauntings, and we're going to get real spooky for Halloween. And it has a very long extended history, which I have condensed down. to be a lot shorter because it would be like a very, very long episode if we went into it a lot. And it would probably get a little dry and boring after a little bit because it repeats history. But what's interesting about this castle is it's over a thousand years old. It's seen a lot of death.

It's seen a lot of battles. It's been through a lot. But it's only ever been owned by two families over a thousand years. What? Mm-hmm. And it's actually the only castle in the world that has only ever been owned by two families. I'm very interested by that fact alone. Like, I want to know the story behind that. Well, it's very interesting because the families were able to keep hold of these.

And it started when the castle was originally built by a man named William Day Moan in 166. Now, this castle was originally constructed out of timber and it did have a moat built around it. The castle was poorly built, though, because it was wood and it constantly needed construction. William Day Moen had been a French Norman commander, and when they invaded and defeated the English forces in the Battle of Hastings, they had actually acquired the land for Dunster Castle. Now, the Battle of Hastings was a period after King Edward of England had died, and he had no children to take over the air. So when that happened, different countries from around came in to try and take over the area. And even though England did appoint a new king, because they weren't the air, there became all these civil wars that started trying to take over England.

The castle was built as a defensive structure from attacks coming from the sea and the coastal road. By the early 12th century, William's son, who had eventually taken over the castle, changed the construction of the building and built it with. stone instead of timber. Okay. I was going to guess just a shot in the dark that it caught on fire and burnt to the ground and then it was rebuilt with stone because I feel like that's also usually what happens. But yeah, yeah, definitely, especially in all the battles and stuff, it was just constantly getting destroyed. And his son eventually was like, hey, we actually want to keep this around for a little bit longer. Let's build it of stone. And they did. And they built it slowly, different parts, they added different towers, gatehouses, things. So it was a slow project that

happened over generations of families. But it is all stone today. In the year 1,138, the castle was ultimately taken over by supporters of King Stephen of England during battles and conflicts in the area. And this is going to be a reoccurring theme where different people battling are going to take over the castle. They move in briefly. But eventually when things started to settle down, William's son was able to negotiate to get the castle back. And again, the castle was captured again by Henry II, but it was short-lived, and then the Moen family was able to take ownership yet again of the castle. So they're getting it, it's leaving, they're getting it. There's a lot of people occupying this castle. By the 13th century, the Moan family

decided to rebuild parts of the castle using stone and created two towers and a gatehouse. that were built during that time. And eventually, the castle was sold in 1376 to the Latrell family. And the La Trell family was the last family to own it. And they owned it for over 600 years. Whoa. That's a long. That's a good run.

It's a good run. Yeah. A lot of families were in or a lot of their family was inheriting a castle. Imagine. It's like my great, great, great grandfather owned this. So it's now it's going to be mine. Imagine living in a castle. What do you do?

What does one do with the entire castle? I think you walk a lot. Yeah, you do a lot of pondering in different wings. Yeah. A lot of deep thinking. Yeah. Buy candlelight. Yes.

Brooding. You walk from the library to the veranda. Right. Staring off into the moors in the distance. Making very serious decisions about the country. Right. As one does. Husband does. They're not us though, because I'm sure women had nothing to do with this.

No, women were, no. Actually, women were in the castle and women did have, like, say, but as wives, not as rulers, really. Right. And England actually does have some history. I mean, of course, Queen Elizabeth, they have a history of a lot of women in power, actually. I just, I would love to know more about that because I just have a feeling that for most of this castle's history, any woman that was in it was left to do a lot of walking. on her own. It's like, yeah, you go think over there about the goats in the distance or whatever. Everyone got their steps in in this castle. So when the La Trell family did buy the castle in 1376, they remodeled and transformed it. It had always been a kind of military-based stronghold that was a defense against invaders,

but the La Trell's decided to repair and reconstruct it as this large mansion country home for their entire family. From 1419 to 1424, it saw new construction of the gatehouse, a defensive barbican, which is this big stone defense structure for battles and wars. It looked kind of like this big circular tower where you could maybe shoot cannons out of, I don't know, I'm making that up, but it looks like something that you could do that with. And they also created a grand entrance that was made from imported redstone from Bristol. and they also use cornish stone tiles to put on the roof. So they really made this a more luxurious place. And between the 15th and the 17th century, this castle slash mansion continued to work as a home and as a battle area.

Two very different purposes, yeah. Yes. So during the Civil War of 1640, royalists. And royalists in England were people who believed that, a king or a queen should rule over England and not these outside countries that were trying to come in had several battles around this castle, the Dunster Castle, before they actually eventually defeated the Latrell family and invaded and took siege of the castle. After this happened, Prince Charles and later Prince Charles II stayed and lived in the castle in 1645. Eventually, though,

in 1680, the castle was returned to the La Trell family, who then decided to modernize the castle further. They hired a famous architect, Anthony Salvin, for a grand Victorian-style renovation of the castle. He renovated the rooms adding a billiard room, a drawing room, a library, a new gallery on the first floor, and he Victorianized the style of the windows, and he added some better heating to the home, too. So this is, when I was walking around, I was actually thinking of you. I'm like, ah, this is how Danielle wants her house to look. Literally. I know.

I think I said that to you and something you posted. I'm like, this is it. Oh, the library or something. That's what I was going to say. The library was just like you to a tea. I can't wait. I don't know if I'm ever going to own a house. If I'll ever like want to settle in one particular area.

But damn, it's coming. It's going to be so Victorianized. You won't even believe it. I will believe it. I have the green felt couch. And the cool wallpaper and just, yeah, it's going to be awesome. The home stayed within the La Trell family throughout the 1900s as well. During World War II, from 1943 to 1944, they actually opened the castle for injured soldiers,

American soldiers, and naval officers for medical care, and acted as a hospital for a year. The Latrell family eventually decided to transfer the ownership rights in 1976 to the National Trust, which is essentially the National Park Service in England. Okay, so here we are. Full circle. Here we are present day, 1976, which feels very recent for this to be started. The La Trell's have owned it since the 1300s. Finally gave it up. It's essentially modern day.

Yeah. Modern day, 1976. But now, today, actually today, it is one of the. most famous tourist destinations in all of England. And fun fact that I just read that I thought I should add in because we like the environment, the National Trust installed solar panels to create an eco-friendly power supply to the entire castle. That seems so odd. Doesn't it? It's like this medieval castle has solar. Right? Like that just doesn't seem cohesive, but, you know, welcome to the modern day. Yeah. Now that I've talked about a little bit of history, and I'm

very, very briefly have gone over it. Now we get to get into the fun, spooky parts of the castle. Okay. Because with over 1,000 years of history, it has become a place where many hauntings have taken place. And people who work there and people who visit there have been reporting mysterious happenings for many years. The first ghosts that we're going to talk about today has been seen lurking around what at one point used to be the stable block for horses. But today, is the National Trust Gift Shop. Staff members have reported that they have seen a man who is dressed in all green. They report seeing him walking through the store to only then suddenly disappear. Many of the staff report often seeing a green orb that bobs around the store and then disappears

as well. The shop's stock room also has seen its share of weird occurrences. Displays have fallen off out of nowhere with no explanation. Also boxes that have been left unopened. Employees have come back to find the boxes ruined by a strange brown and sticky goo. What? Ew. Yeah. Ew.

And from nowhere, too, they can't figure out where it's coming from. It's ectoplasm. That's some sort of like ghost thing. Hold on. I'm trying to think of a word that like does have to do with like some substance. of like supernatural origin. Oh, wait. No, it's true.

Oh, my God. Okay. I only read the first definition. So the first definition is the more viscous, clear outer layer of the cytoplasm in an amoeboid cell. And I'm so real. So that's like real. And I'm like, okay, maybe I'm just getting like a flashback from my biology courses, because I do have a biology degree, believe it or not. But the second definition, which is what I was really.

reaching for is a supernatural viscous substance that is supposed to exude from the body of a medium during a spiritualistic trance and form the material for the manifestation of spirits. Oh, okay. So that will make that one, not the M.E. Boy's itself. Well, for this specific haunting, I have not been able to find a specific historic event that would explain this, but many visitors believe that someone was murdered here. And they have this feeling based on how they feel when they enter the building. People complain about a menacing, dark, and heavy atmosphere that they can feel as soon as they enter the room. And it's not uncommon for visitors to actually approach staff and ask if someone was murdered there because of how heavy of a feeling they get when they walk in.

Our next haunting occurred in the blue kitchen of the castle. I did do a tour of this castle. I did do a tour of this castle. So I did walk around and I have been in all of these rooms too, which is cool. And it is called the blue kitchen because all of the cabinets throughout this kitchen are blue. They're like a light, almost a baby blue color. Okay. One day when a volunteer was inside of the blue kitchen mopping the floor, out of nowhere, a human foot covered in strange white powder appeared on the floor in front of him, not attached to a body, just a foot. He was terrified. He ran out of the room, And when he came back in, nothing was there. Did it have a shoe on?

No. Well, then I would imagine, yeah, a shoe appeared if it's not attached to a body. They would say foot because it's bare. Oh, that's weird. Yeah, it's a bare foot. Yeah. Now, one of the creepiest parts of the castle lies underneath the gatehouse in the dungeon of the castle. And there is no question why this place is haunted given its morbid past.

During medieval times, this dungeon was used to throw away men and women. They would leave these people down there to die of starvation and would never remove their remains. In the 1700s, during one of their construction excavation projects, several skeletal remains were found, including a skeleton of a seven-foot-tall man, someone who would have been considered a giant. I mean, I still think that's considered giant. I mean, obviously, it's way more abnormal back then just because the height of people, we tended to be shorter as, you know, a human race, but did, I wondered like, obviously, you don't have the answer of, like, why he was thrown down there. Maybe because they're like, you're a giant, we're afraid of you. You're a witch. You're a witch, yeah. Or a warlock if he was a man. Yeah. Well, he was found with his hands and

ankles shackled, and it is believed that his remains were not actually moved after they were found during the excavation. Today, there are many reports that have come forward from visitors hearing screams of men and women coming from the dungeon. And while people have reported an eerie, unpleasant feeling when they enter this area, they're not the only ones. It has also been found that many dogs will refuse to enter the dungeon. Well, dogs always know. Yeah, they have that other sense. Do you, um, did, I don't know if you're going to say this later on, but did you ever feel any weird feelings or senses throughout any of this castle while you were there? There were some vibes for sure.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And it's interesting because you didn't know any of this, right, going in? No, I did. I will say I did know halfway through that it was haunted because my step-sister, she had been on a ghost tour here, so she had told me about it. But she didn't tell me about it until about halfway through.

And I had been walking through some rooms and I was like, oh, this feels off. Okay. And it's just this heavy feeling that people keep describing. I could feel it. Okay. It's also believed that some soldiers from the Civil War times have never left Dunster Castle. Ghostly sightings have dated back for years, and one major incident that occurred happened in 1951.

A group of tourists were standing atop of the hill outside of the castle when they heard the sounds of a large group marching towards them, like the sound of marching soldiers. The sounds grew so loud that the tourists became scared, and they ran, to the bottom of the hill. And it was only when they all reached the bottom, did the noises stop. In another instance, a woman who was employed to clean the areas of the castle saw the apparition of a man in an old-fashioned military uniform. It wasn't until later when she told other people what had happened that she had realized that she had been inside of a part of the castle that used to be the sleeping quarters for troops during the Civil War. Interesting. I can't imagine

hearing that marching sound either because there's such a distinct like the boots hitting the ground. Yep. Like a repetitive and overwhelming. It's not just like something you have to think of, like really think in your mind of like, did I just hear that or that kind of sounded like this? Like that is absolutely correct. It's a distinctive sound that you don't really have to question. I mean, you can question where it's coming from, but you know what it is. Yeah. And if it's getting louder and louder, you're like, it's almost here. I got to go. So I can only imagine how this group of tourists felt when they were standing there.

Another haunting that is in the castle is King Charles Bedroom. It is believed that this is actually one of the most haunted rooms in the castle. And it's filled to your design. It's filled with old furniture, mirrors. And it even has these old secret passageways that connect to it. And they have the doors open now so you can see through the passageways that go behind the walls which is really cool, but this room is said to be one of the heaviest and worst rooms to be in. Many staff have reported that it is their least favorite room to spend time in because of the

eerie feeling they get while being in there. At night, many people have heard men's voices coming from inside the room along with footsteps and heavy bangings on the doors. Apparitions of soldiers have also been seen in this room. So this room's got it going on is what you're trying to say. Yeah. And when I was in there, we met this woman who was telling us about the hauntings and history of the castle while we were in there. And I decided they have mirrors up. And I decided to take a picture in the mirror because I say ghosts and spirits appear in mirrors. So I took a picture. And I didn't realize when I took it that there was a mirror actually on the wall behind me that was seen in the mirror that I was looking at. And if you look really close at it, it looks like there's a face. in that small little mirror that was on the wall. I know. When you sent that to me, because there's, you caught also, like, there's like a little

girl behind you, like just in the hallway. I'm like, was that girl really there? And you're like, yes, no, I'm not talking about that. Look at the mirror. I'm talking about the meeting. Yeah. Yeah, that was in King Charles bedroom. Okay, all right.

You're going to post that, right? Post that. Yeah, I'll post that. Okay. I'll post that. And see, I did on Patreon, we have our little close friend's story, and I posted it. I was like, do you guys see this? And I think it was like 60, 40.

People saw it or didn't. But maybe if I explain it a little better, it looks like a woman who's wearing like a scarf over her face. Or one person who saw it, they thought it looked like a man with a beard. I thought it was a man when I first looked at it. You saw a man? Yeah. See, I saw a woman, but other people who have seen it see a man. But you can see like a distinctive, like, eyes and nose in the...

The people will tell us. And there was no one around me except for... The little girl, yeah. I'm sure everyone will be quick to let us know. It'll be like there's nothing there, you're crazy. And maybe I am, but I was in a haunted castle and I got a ghost in a mirror. I'm stoked. Yeah, like let her have her moment, okay?

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who the ghost was in King Charles' room. She said it was a soldier by the name of Richard who had been killed after a puncture to his right eye at the castle. Oh, God. And the very last haunting that we're going to explore today has been most historically seen actually during ghost tours that Dunster Castle holds for visitors. So Dunster Castle does do ghost tours, which is very cool. And this particular ghost has earned the name of the gray lady. She has mostly been seen in the library and the billiard room, but she has also been seen in the connecting corridor

and on top of the large oak flight of stairs that is inside of it. The very first administrator of the castle's wife often had felt that there was something very evil that was haunting the stairs. And she felt so passionately about this that she actually had her husband bring in a medium to the house to perform an exorcism. The medium came in, performed this exorcism, but then only a few days later, an employee felt the spirit again. As they walked down the stairs, the room turned ice cold, and they had this overwhelming

feeling that someone was staring at them. And we all know that feeling. Yes, when you're like, someone is watching me. Whether it's paranormal or not. Isn't that weird? It's like a sixth sense. It's like your intuition just kicks in that. you're not safe or there's someone around you that has their eyes on you and you look around

and like in a crowd someone is staring at you. Yeah. And you're like, oh. Yeah. How'd I know that? Yeah. Your intuition. Visitors on these tours have seen a woman who is gliding up and down the staircase before

she disappears into a wall. And during one visit, a local aspiring artist came to sketch the beauty of this grand staircase, this grand oak staircase. and during her sketch that she had originally been doing just to showcase the staircase, she felt this overwhelming feeling to draw the form of a young girl walking down the stairs. She was unaware of any hauntings there, and there was no girl standing on the stairs when she did it, but the sketch she drew resembles the spirit of the gray lady. Spooky-uky.

Spooky. And it is believed that this young, you know, this young lady. young girl was once a servant inside of the castle who had been murdered by the castlekeeper. And I'm guessing there's no historical documentation that gives any legitimacy to those like origin stories. That just makes it more fun. No, it's just all of these, a lot of these are speculated. Of course, we found remains there. So that is.

Well, there's some very real deaths, of course, that occurred. They're horrific ones. Yeah. And you have to remember the medieval times, they had some crazy torture techniques going on. And this was a fortress that was capturing people and fighting people. And they had a dungeon and they had all this stuff going on. I can only imagine some of the torture that was happening here and the deaths that were going on. I mean, there's so much history of bloodshed here in all sorts of forms. But if you are going to be in the area, part of why I wanted to release this episode a little bit early and October because if you happen to be in the area or you're planning a trip or you want to plan the last minute trip to England and to go to Exmoor National Park, they do a special ghost tour on Halloween night every year and they're doing it again this year. I wish I was in England for that, but I'm definitely going to, I have a couple things up my sleeve of plans for around here, but that would be awesome to go to. What a cool destination. They make it really cool too

because each Halloween, starting at 8 p.m., they change the ghost tours into an adult-only event. Oh, my favorite kinds of events. No kids. And a tour guide will walk you through the whole grounds of the castle, and they lead the way through candlelight. So they bring you into each of these rooms that is not super well lit. You have those spooky vibes, and they bring you into these same rooms that ghosts and apparitions have been seen, and they tell you all about the history there and the ghosts.

And it's not uncommon for people to have their own experiences. And actually, they even have, when you go there, they even have a section where they say send in photos if you catch anything because it's so common for people to catch something in a picture or for people to have an experience while they're there. So they do encourage you to write into them and to send them pictures if you do catch anything. But if you are planning to be in this area on Halloween night, I definitely recommend it. You can buy tickets online. I am jealous of anyone who's going, especially on Halloween night. But that reminds me. So I was kind of laughing to myself during some of this when you started bringing up the ghost horse.

Because as I've said before on the show, Ian and I would, that was like our thing. We would always do either historic tours or ghost tours, paranormal tours, things like that. And one of our favorite ones we did in Eble. city in Florida. And we went into, it was super small. It was like the tour guide, Ian, myself, and maybe like three or four other people. And we went into one of the buildings that was like the old community center. I don't know what it's used for. I forget what it's used for now. We were also feeling great from our Kratum T. So things are a little blurry. I remember you telling me this story now that you're saying, I feel like you might have even told it on the podcast. Yeah, I'm not sure.

But in this particular building, they were saying that like they showed us a picture that somebody from a previous tour had took. And it was, you know how sometimes you're like, maybe I can see it. Maybe I can't. Like it's a stretch to maybe see a figure in the corner or whatever. This was like so apparent. It was so apparent. And it was the old bar. And there was a very clear as day.

there was a kid that looked like he was peeking over the countertop from behind the bar. And they told the story of like how the area that was at the time the bar, it was the old swimming pool. And you could like walk down into the swimming pool area and stuff. And there was a, you know, obviously a death of a small child there. And so some person on the previous tour, a previous tour had captured that. And I forget his name. so bad, but the spirit's name in life. And, um, like, it was an actual true story behind this whole thing. Yeah. And he was Spanish speaking in life. And so after we heard the story, we got the lowdown

of the building, whatever, they kind of let us go off and do our own thing. And I have these videos that I was actually just looking at the other day. And you can't see anything because it's dark. They turned off all the lights. And you can hear Ian and I being like, oh la nino oh la nino like hello little boy like trying to like be nice and be like and then and then like there's like scuffling around you don't really hear anything and then i like you can tell i turn a corner and then i'm like oh my god babe are you trying to scare me he's like no i'm scared like you can hear it's like whispering back and forth it just it just brought back a lot of happy uh bittersweet memories but we always loved ghost tours and history and whether I've never done one in a castle. So that's like next level. That's like that's on the

list. Here's Daniel's list. Here's the beginning. Catecombs last time. Actually, okay, well, this will kind of lead me into what I was saying. I wanted to discuss a little bit in the beginning, unless you have anything more to say about X more. No, tell me. I do have more to say about X more, but I want to hear this. Okay, it's brief. And we can jump back in. It's brief. Yeah. Tell me. So speaking of castles and the like, I guess I've never done. an official ghost tour of a castle, but in Manitou Springs, Colorado, there's a castle, there's a couple of cats. Well, I don't know if Bishop Castle is technically in Manitou, but there is one. It's called the Miramont Castle, and I have done tours in it, and it has a lot.

It's extensive history. Pretty spooky was used as a sanitarium and a bunch of other things. And I was just thinking of wanting to go to revisit Manitou now that I'm back in the state because I used to live there. And I love Manitou just any time of year. It has a lot of creepy vibes there. It's very unique. But I'm going to go sometime this month because, of course, they do historic night tours. But they also have a really cool event every year. I think they did a couple years of hiatus because of COVID, of course.

But there's something called the Emma Crawford coffin races. And I think I've mentioned this before, at least in passing to you. Or have I not? Maybe. I don't know. It doesn't sound familiar. Maybe when you describe it. Okay.

So I'm torn of whether or not I want to use my off the trails, like freebie episode for this or not. But it is really cool. So every year they have since like the 90s, 1995 or something, every year there's a race that people dress up in like different characters. And you have to build like your homemade coffin and put somebody in it and race down the streets of Manitou. And the whole like origin story of this is from. a woman named Emma Crawford who died in like the 1800s. They buried her on top of a hill in Manitou. And after some severe weather and things like that,

her coffin got unearthed and raced like shot down the mountain in some really bad weather. And like her nameplate was there and there was a couple of her like bones and remains there. So now they do a race of like coffins down the street. Yes. That's so interesting. So there's like a big legend. about it. She has a big story, obviously, Emma herself, and then Manate you. So are you going to race in a coffin down the hill? So I'm going to watch it. Okay. So this was probably 2015. I went because my

roommate at the time was in a team that was doing it. So I went to like root him on. So I've seen it happen. I just never participated. Like I've gone to the- Oh, you got to participate. You got to jump in that coffin and roll down the hill. It's too late to, I think, sign up. But anyways, so, yeah, there's like a big, Manitou really embraces the whole thing. And obviously the castle, Miramont Castle, which is right nearby, has, like, a bunch of events too.

And I think that I might do something, like, maybe special for Patreon. And, like, because I'm obviously going to go and do, like, be there for the event and do a couple tours of different things around town and stuff. So maybe I'll put together something. for Patreon, like a little bonus thing. That would be fun. Yeah. Yeah, that'd be very fun. So that has absolutely, I guess, nothing to do with your story. But I just really was excited to tell you. It's creepy and

it has a history about it and it's cool and it's happening in Colorado, which I know a lot of people listening are from there. Yeah, true. Maybe I'll see some people there. Yeah. Okay, anyway, that was it. Cool. Did you know that if you are sleeping less than six hours per night, you could be more at risk for weight gain, mood issues, poor mental health, and lower productivity. Having a consistent nighttime routine is so important and can affect your overall wellness. I have always struggled to get into a good nighttime routine and have a good night's sleep, which had often left me feeling tired and unproductive the following days. I can finally say that I am getting a great night's rest and have fallen into a nighttime routine with Beam Dream. Beam Dream is the

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P-A-D at checkout. That's shop, B-E-A-M-com slash N-P-A-D, and use code N-P-A-D for up to 40% off. Well, my hauntings for Exmore National Park, that is the story of everything that I have, but I do have a couple more little recommendations for people if they do want to go check out this park. And I mentioned at the beginning that this national park is filled with different villages, which is different, I feel like, from a lot of national parks you go in. There's a visitor center and you see the landscape. But this national park has several different towns and villages that are there that are really cute. And one of them is Porlock Village. I went there and it's right on the coast.

They have all these really nice little cafes and places to eat that are beautiful and have really good food. So I recommend going there. And the other place that I really recommend checking out is sellworthy. And sellworthy is really cool because it sits on this picturesque landscape with the park, with the rolling views. It has a medieval church there. It has woodland walking trails. And it has these bright yellow cottages with thatched roofs. So it's very old.

And this is what I picture England looking like when I went. So this was kind of the experience of. what I felt like was England. And the medieval church that they have there is the Church of All Saints. It is an active church, but it was built in the 15th century. And it's this huge, white church that sits on top of a hill and it is actually surrounded by this really creepy cemetery that has headstones on it that are so old that you can barely read what it says anymore. Ooh. Yeah. And I couldn't find like any ancient stories or things that have. happened in this church. But there were some vibes there. When you walked in, there was some,

I personally feel like some stuff has gone down in that church. I'd be curious of other people walk in, but it is open to any visitors. You can walk in. They ask for a little donation. They have this really cool, like old treasure chest that you drop your donation in. And the inside is really cool. It has stained glass, these huge cathedral ceilings, these really old peasures. These really old peasurer. It's just old churches give me really creepy vibes because you know there's some stuff that's gone on in there. So it was super interesting and it was beautiful. The church was very pretty. I feel like you always wind up at a church. I've been to two churches with you on trips already. Really? Yeah. The first one was actually really fucking cool. It's definitely a church, but it's not old.

It's that one. Remember in Arkansas was all glass? Oh yeah. That one was beautiful. And I forget what it was called, but it was in the middle of the woods and it was all glass. Yeah. God, what the hell was it called? And it was in that town we visit. What town were we in? Hot Springs. No, not hot springs. God, where the hell were we? Eureka Springs. It was in Eureka Springs. It was this big glass church. It was beautiful. And then we also went to the church on the site of the Crescent Hotel Church that was on the grounds there. Oh, yeah, we did walk in there. That was like, so both in Arkansas. There was music playing and like the organ and stuff, but no one was in there. And we kind of, didn't we just sit down and we're like, all right, let's go. It was so quiet in there. We're like, okay, we should. Yeah, it just felt uncomfortable.

We're like, breathing too loud. Yeah, it's like, we shouldn't be, of course, it was open and you could, you were welcome to go in. It just felt like you shouldn't be there for some reason. Yeah, but it was very pretty. Yeah. So this is another, this one is so much older than those ones. And it's, It's super ancient. And even on the walls, they have these plaques of people who are, their remains are actually in the walls because they were cremated. So there's a lot of people's ashes that are in the walls of the church, too. And maybe that's part of why I had a weird vibe because there's literally remains of people

outside of the church, inside of the church, there's a lot of history going on there. But Zellworthy isn't just this creepy church. It's really cute because only a short walk away. away are these yellow-fatched roof cottages that I'll post a picture of, but they're really pretty and they're on this hilly landscape with rolling views of hills. It's very pretty. You're walking through these cobblestone walkways in this very green area. And they also have there the periwinkle tea room. So the tea room is inside of these cottages. And it's where you go for your British afternoon tea, which I feel like is part of the experience. So you should go. You have the option to sit

outside if you want and you can have these beautiful views while you're sitting out there. And they bring you tea. And then they bring you scones with clotted cream and jam. I was just going to ask, did you get sandwiches? Like a little sandwich. I didn't, but the people I were with got sandwiches. And I got the scone and the clotted cream and jam. And it was a really fun experience. I want the U.S. to adopt afternoon tea because I would go all the time. I drink afternoon tea all the time. But it was really pretty and it was nice and the food was good. And then they actually have this cute little gift shop slash art gallery that's in one of the cottages as well. So you can go in. And it has all locally made goods and art that's in there. And they have their own jams. I bought,

I have this thing with little yarn, yarn figures and stuff that people make. Like I have yarn, acorn magnets that this little old lady made. And then I have, when I was there, I bought this castle tower made out of yarn and it has grass around. It's cute. So when you say you have this thing, is this a new thing? It's a new thing. I've been buying yarn figures from artists. Okay. Because I'm a grandma. Everyone's like, how old are you? Well, I don't know if it was something that, like, you've had for all your travels and you just have this, like, pile of yarn figurines that I just never knew about. It's been, going on for like a year. I have a little mushroom. They're very cute. Okay, so from where else have you

gotten them, I guess? Uh, in Vermont. Okay. It's a very Vermont thing, I guess. Yeah, well, yarn thing. Someone else is listening and they're like, let me show you my yarn collection. You're a yarn person. Who would have thought? Yeah, I'm a yarn person. But those are just my suggestions. Go to Porlock, go to Dunkery Hill, go to sell worthy, do the haunted ghost tour of Dunster Castle, go to the Valley of Rocks if you're there. I was only there for a day, two days, and I did all of this, and I'm sure... You did all of that in a day? Two days. Oh, okay. Yeah. It's still a lot, I think. It's a lot. Or maybe I was only, like, in the park for one day, because I was there for two and a half days. So maybe I was only in the park for a day, but it's really easy to get around. I saw the wild.

ponies that are there. I did the shorter hike. I'm sure there's so much more that you can do. I know there's so much more that you can do. But there's a lot of different like villages and towns that are around there that have so many cute shops, places to get ice cream. They just have a lot of stuff that you can do there. But the ones I did were the Valley of Rocks. The ghost, oh, I didn't do the ghost tour, but I saw Dunster Castle, sellworthy and poor lock, which I totally recommend if you're heading there. But that's my whole, that's my whole spiel and my whole episode. I wanted to to do something since I was just there. I wanted to share my experience with people, especially if you're looking to go to England and you want to go to a national park. This is a really cool one to go to.

Well, it was very fitting and I enjoyed it. I love the history in especially I love that you touched on the medieval times, even just a little bit. I'm sure we'll do more episodes over there at some point and do it a little bit of a deeper dive, but it was a good introduction. Thank you. Well, I hope everyone is enjoying spooky season. I hope you're getting your hauntings in and wearing orange and drinking pumpkin spice and doing all the fall things. I'm doing none of those things. So you think I own it? I haven't had any pumpkin spice, but I am wearing orange. Not right now. Okay. I was going to say, we're both wearing black, so that's a lie. Black also is Halloween. Yeah, I haven't even bought a pumpkin. I know. I have a pumpkin outside my house. Are you going to carve it? No. No. I don't.

I mean, probably not. It'll probably just rot and then I'll throw it away eventually. The first, this is like three years ago. Three years ago, yeah. Ian came and surprised me when I lived in New Hampshire and he was living in Florida at the time. But he like came up and it was for that, were you there? The party for work that I hosted for the Halloween party and we had to like carve all the pumpkins. And we put, what did we watch on the projector outside?

Hocus pocus or night. I think so. A nightmare before Christmas. It wasn't Nightmare Before Christmas. I think it was hocus pocus. A true classic. And is this a hot top? I feel like Nightmare Before Christmas, that's a Halloween movie, right?

Not a Christmas movie. It's interchangeable, I think. But it's about Halloween. Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely more of a Halloween movie, I would say. Yeah, okay. But you could watch it for Christmas if you wanted. The theme song is literally, this is Halloween, this is Halloween.

You know? But it says Christmas in the title, which gives it a pass. Yeah. I guess. I'm excited. I got to set up my TV. I still don't have like anything set up here in the new house. And I really need to do that because I got like three movies on rotation that I watch every Halloween or spooky season, whatever. What movies? Well, of course, hocus pocus. Yes. Nightmare before Christmas. I want to say I always put on Halloween Town, but I'm not a big fan. I'm not a big fan. I am a big. I liked Halloween Town. Are you going to add Hocus Focus 2 to your? list this year? I don't know. I'm kind of torn about watching it. Yeah. I know you did. Did you fall asleep? No, I didn't. I watched the whole thing. And? And I thought it was very cool that the same three Sanderson witches were back. It was very nostalgic to watch it. It brought back a lot of memories of the first one.

And they also referenced the 1993 movie. They're like, the last time we were awake was in 1993. Oh, okay. And they did a really good job of making the witches look exactly the same. though they've obviously aged in real life. They look almost exactly the same, so they did really good makeup. Did they mention Thackeray, my original crush? They did. Does he make an appearance at all? Even as a ghost.

I don't want to give away the entire thing. Thackeray. Thackeray makes. God, I love him. Okay, we got to go. Anyway, we're getting super off topic, but enjoy your spooky season. We'll see you next week. In the meantime, enjoy the view.

But watch you back. Bye. P.S. I love you. rebanks. Thank you for joining us again this week. If you have a trail tale you'd like to share, send us an email at NPAD Stories at gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at National Park After Dark and on Twitter at NPAD podcast. Become an outsider by joining our Patreon where you'll gain access to monthly bonus stories and exclusive content. And remember, when you support our partners, you're supporting our show. To access our social.

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